If you’re interested in playing independent professional baseball (indy ball), there are some classic pitfalls to avoid before you even show up at the tryout. Mistake #1) not contacting the team(s) before you go to their tryout. It’s ultra-important you send a short e-mail to let the tryout “decision-maker” (field manager, director of baseball operations and/or player procurement) know you’ll be attending; if you’re preregistered, you give that person/organization a chance to do some research on you. However, in the process of contacting teams, I see many players make potentially career-crippling mistakes that are easy to avoid:

Gio Gonzalez is on the trade block and, as if Billy Beane was divinely inspired by Brad Pitt’s performance in Moneyball, he’s trying to trade like it’s 1999 (or whenever that book came out, cue “Lazy Song” music).

And while anyone with eyes and a high school level grasp of statistics can tell you that Gonzalez’s career 4.4 BB/9 is an enormous red flag, teams are still begging Beane to take their top prospects in exchange for the 26-year old left-hander.

In true bizzaro-world fashion, the Washington National have stepped up as a possible suitor for Gio’s services. Here’s why trading Gonzalez to the NL East power(less)house would be a MLB fan’s dream.

It is often the case that a baseball franchise will over-hype a player for publicity sake. It is not a secret, nor should anyone be surprised by this behavior. After all if it was our decision to make (how to manage the image of your team’s players), we would be doing the exact same thing. Enhancing the image of players is an accepted practice and is not a problem. There is nothing wrong with it. However, although your average baseball fan may fall for this type of marketing technique, the avid baseball community does not usually fall into the trap. I would argue that they have fallen for it in a case which I have been following very closely: Andrew Oliver.

All content on the Five Tool Prospects is now free, including the “Events” section of the site, listing all of the professional baseball tryouts in the United States. We’ve recently updated this section, adding over a dozen new tryouts. If you’re an ex-college or pro player sitting around wishing you could have one last crack at your dream, this is the place to start.

The National League power rankings will look similar to the American League rankings, it will have a member of each division in the top 3 positions.

The San Francisco Giants have been given top spot because of their World Series victory. Right now they are the team to beat. This would be the case even if they traded their whole team away. Texas was not afforded the same spot in the AL simply because they did what every team could do,–and that includes amateur teams–lose.

Baseball’s regular season is quickly approaching, and that means the first edition of this season’s power rankings.

These rankings will be unique in a couple senses. One, they will only look at one league at a time. And two, the top three teams will represent the three divisions. After all, those are the teams that will make the playoffs in the end. This is the American League edition of the power rankings. The National League rankings will be available when you check back here next Monday.

After the preseason rankings, the American League rankings will appear on the last Monday of the month and the National League power rankings will appear on the first Monday of the month. Stay tuned, enjoy and as always feel free to comment!

It’s easy to start predicting great things for teams who have added big-name players and have a recent history of success. Even then, a team could disappoint you due to injuries or a simple failure to live up to the hype. This season the Philadelphia Phillies and the Boston Red Sox are the teams for which you could make such rosy predictions.

It’s a lot more difficult to choose the team that really comes together. Last season it was the Cincinnati Reds, a couple seasons before it was the Tampa Bay Rays, and just before that was the Colorado Rockies. These are usually young teams who finally develop some consistency. Dark horse teams are difficult to predict and if you do it correctly you look like a genius. In my attempt to look like a baseball Nostradamus, I offer my dark horse candidates from each league:

Fantasy Baseball is fast approaching, so it’s time for my annual article for the fantasy-challenged. Fantasy Baseball is only difficult to those who choose to ignore the basic, fundamental laws of probability. Which is why the #1 rule is – draft Albert Pujols. For the record, these rules helped me to a 2nd place finish in the 20-member Battle of the Blogs fantasy league last season (I got totally hosed in the championship, damn you Chone Figgins!).

What’s all this talk about the Phillies? Yeah, they acquired Cliff Lee, and yeah they have a sweet rotation… but the Braves ranked 3rd in ERA last year, and the Phils ranked 5th. Apparently MLVtv and ESPN haven’t taken this into consideration. Not only did the Braves have the 3rd best rotation in the NL… they did it without Jurrjens and Medlen. Booyah.

Money has a funny way of inspiring people to perform even better than expected. This is true in several career paths and certainly doesn’t exclude baseball. In baseball, the money up for grabs is anywhere from the league minimum of $400,000 to the $27.5 million Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees makes annually. Salaries are based on a combination of what a player has done and what is reasonable to expect he can do. Top performers in their mid- to late twenties and early thirties are those who can expect the big bucks. Players can either sign a contract extension with their current team or they can wait until their contract expires and they become a free agent. Both scenarios have pros and cons.

As far as a contract extension goes, it is guaranteed money, and who doesn’t like job security? Baseball is a gruelling sport and every player is one injury away from seeing his career end. With a long-term contract, even if the unthinkable happens, the injured player still gets paid. Free agency, on the other hand, usually means a lot more money. It can also be a strong motivator for good players to have great seasons. (Adrian Beltre’s 2004 and 2010 seasons anyone?)